Drabbles: Gene & Finny
by Josephine Stone
Summary: All my drabbles (less than 1k) for the pairing Gene/Finny. Various ratings and probably (hopefully) never "complete".
1. Tuesday Morning

**Title:** Tuesday Morning  
 **Author(s):** josephinestone  
 **Written For:** gameofcards  
 **Prompt:** _Serenity_  
 **Pairing(s):** Gene/Finny  
 **Rating:** PG  
 **Word Count:** 675  
 **Era(s):** Devon  
 **Content:** fluff  
 **Summary:** A peaceful morning for Gene and Finny as Gene contemplates how much their relationship has and hasn't changed.

* * *

It was early morning and Finny was still asleep while Gene sat at his desk and studied.

When Gene first began waking up early to get in extra study time, it had been about getting the edge. About sneaking moments away from Finny's watchful eyes. So that Gene could secure his place as the best at academics just like Finny was the best at sports without Finny knowing about the time spent.

But they were long past that then.

Finny slept and Gene studied in quiet that was only available at such a time.

Behind him, Gene heard the whisper of the movement of sheets, but he didn't turn around right away. Sometimes he was amazed how little changed about himself and Finny since Finny confession.

The scene was the same.

Their habits as they moved through their day were the same.

Even most of their conversations were the same.

The differences were small but significant.

Gene's shoulders didn't tense as the sound of Finny waking up behind him. He didn't fight himself to not look around because he'd somehow convinced himself that turning away from his work meant that Finny won the battle of the morning. Gene finished the paragraph he was reading before he turned around, casually. It wasn't a forced casually as it used to be. All of his casually used to be forced.

Finny was watching him and their eyes met for a brief moment, making Finny smile. That used to cause Gene to blush. Right after Finny's confession, Gene couldn't help it. But he got past that.

He hadn't known what to do with it; the power Finny had handed him when he'd opened up to Gene on the beach.

Finny stood up then and made his way over to Gene's desk. Gene had to bite his lip to keep from smiling. He turned back to his book but didn't continue reading it as Finny wrapped his arms around Gene and kissed his neck. Finny laughed, his gorgeous, effortless laugh as Gene felt his neck heat up.

Physical contact still made him blush.

Still he leaned against Finny with a sigh.

'You're up early,' Gene said.

'I was dreaming but then decided that reality was better.'

Gene rolled his eyes and pushed away his thoughts that this was all a trick. They still came around from time to time. The thoughts that said it was all a game to Finny. The looks, touches, and confessions all a clever ruse to get to all of Gene's secrets.

Finny tipped Gene's head back and kissed him, making the thoughts completely disappear. Even Finny couldn't talk his way out of this if they were caught. Gene slipped his fingers through Finny's hair and let Finny slip his tongue into his mouth. They kissed for only a moment as even in their room they never let themselves linger too long.

When Gene broke the kiss, Finny groaned at the loss of contact.

The sound warmed him as if he were in its embrace. It said this is real better than anything else could. Finny was rarely the first to pull away. Smiling, Gene pressed his forehead against Finny's while his fingers were still tangled in his hair.

'We should put a chair at the door and lie down.'

Finny pulled back to stare down at Gene with bright eyes. Gene wasn't prone to taking risks and they saw even sitting on the other's bed as a risk most days, but it was early Tuesday morning and unlikely anyone would come to find them before breakfast. Plus, there was the chair. Finny would find a way to explain it if anyone asked about it.

After wedging the chair under the door handle, Gene came to stand next to Finny's bed. Finny had already lied down. He stared for a moment before he gently moved onto the bed. With Finny's arm around him, he was surrounded by his scent. Gene let the serenity overtake him and trusted Finny to wake him if he fell asleep.


	2. Worth It

**Title:** Worth It  
 **Author:** josephinestone  
 **Written For:** gameofcards Challenge #14 Drabble Tree  
 **Pairing:** Gene/Finny  
 **Word Count:** 154  
 **Summary:** They'd be accused of it whether they did it or not so they might as well make it worth it.

'You could have told me,' Gene said even if he knew it was a lie. A few weeks prior he wouldn't have believed Phineas if he had told him. He was so sure that Finny was against him then. He'd have seen it as a trick. The pink shirt Finny had worn would have seemed like a sick joke to him. A nod towards everyone's acceptance of Finny that Gene didn't have.

Gene's nerves were still on edge as if that being the truth was still a possibility.

'Would you have believed me?'

He looked away instead of admitting the truth.

Finny brushed his lips against Gene's cheek. It was the closest to a kiss they'd allowed themselves. It was stupid. Laying on the cot together would be damning enough if they were caught. They'd be accused of it whether they did it or not so they might as well make it worth it.


	3. Breathe In, Breathe Out

**Title:** Breathe In, Breathe Out  
 **Author:** josephinestone  
 **Written For:** gameofcards Challenge #14 Drabble Tree  
 **Pairing:** Gene/Finny  
 **Word Count:** 273  
 **Summary:** He apologized again and again.

 _Breathe in, breathe out._

It was the only thought Gene was able to process at that moment.

He'd never seen Finny cry and the sight froze him. Feeling as if he looked away he'd let Finny down in some way, Gene just kept staring at his best friend. What did one do in such a situation? Lies flew to the forefront of Gene's mind but he pushed them away.

He'd lied too much already.

Finny laid crippled in the hospital bed and Gene had put him there. There were no words to take that away. He apologized again and again.

'I know,' Phineas said.

It wasn't enough.

Just like running and training all winter hadn't been enough. There would never be anything Gene could to make up for what he'd taken away from Finny.

Although he hadn't let Finny know it, he'd always seen the training as a part of his punishment. A way to make it up to him. Gene's jealousy stole Finny's future from him and they had both known it.

Gene took Finny's hand. That was what one did in moments like this. Finny watched him, his green eyes widening when their skin made contact.

'What can I do to show you—'

Phineas' eyes dried as he watched Gene mumble the same things over and over again, and he pulled his hand out of Gene's only to move it to his face. The touch shocked Gene into silence. Phineas' thumb brushed across Gene's bottom lip.

They both jumped apart at the sound of a knock on the door.

It was time for Finny to go into surgery.


	4. Enough

**Title:** Enough  
 **Author:** josephinestone  
 **Written For:** gameofcards  
 **Prompt Used:** Snowball Fight  & "The heart can get really cold when all you've know is winter." - Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Last Night I Sang to the Monster  
 **Fandom:** A Separate Peace  
 **Pairings:** Gene/Finny  
 **Warnings:** None  
 **Word Count:** 682

It was easy to forget that Finny's leg was wrapped in a cast and how it got that way in moments like that. The new walking cast made his movement more natural and when Gene didn't look his way it was easy to forget it all. It was pure instinct that had Gene run toward him after the first snowball hit the back of Gene's head.

The traitor had switched sides in the middle of the fight!

Gene stopped short as he remembered and bent to grab snow instead of shoving Finny backwards into it. Gene saw a brief look of disappointment cross Finny's face before Gene didn't hold back with his throw. Finny didn't like people feeling sorry for him. And though he had confessed to Gene that he was alright when it was him who saw Finny's weaker moments, he still didn't like Gene's pity anymore than anyone else's.

Gene wished it were summer again and not just because he hated winter. If it were summer again he knock into Finny as the other ran ahead and everything would be like it was before.

Before he'd gone to see Leper losing his mind, before Finny broke his leg and lost his spirit, before they'd ever gone near that damned tree.

Finny watched Gene's sullen mood and when they headed back in instead of asking how Leper was again, he asked, 'Your "best friend", huh?'

It took Gene a moment to remember that Leper had signed his letter to him that way.

'I don't know why he said that,' Gene said. 'You're my best friend. Everyone knows that. I'm not even that close to Leper. It's just he really doesn't have anyone else, does he?'

They were quiet until they made it back to their room. Gene tried to study but kept looking back at Finny who was lost in his thoughts. Unable to concentrate, Gene closed his book and broke the silence.

'How have you suffered?'

When Finny and yelled it at them all earlier that winter all Gene could think about was his own betrayal, but he'd been certain that Finny didn't know or wouldn't let himself know.  
That he'd meant anything other than his leg had not crossed Gene's mind until Finny asked about Leper. No, they weren't best friends. Gene wasn't sneaking around keeping Finny in the dark about another closer relationship than there own, but that the idea bothered Finny made Gene question their relationship, again.

'You wouldn't understand.'

'Then help me!' Gene came closer as Finny sat more upright but looked away from him.

'It's all this war—'

'No,' Gene cut him off. 'We're all part of this war.'

'I'm not.'

'Finny, you don't want to go to war—' Gene thought of Leper and how he'd never made it that far. 'No one wants to.'

'You're going.'

'It's unlikely that I'd have another choice. What happened to you? How can you not see that this saves you?'

'No one wants to be left behind, either.' Finny still wouldn't look at him.

'Left behind?' Before Gene could ask what he was talking about, Finny seemed to have made a decision and turned to make space on his cot for Gene to sit next to him. He looked up at Gene staring down at him, but neither of them moved.

'Can't you see how this all ties together?'

'I never can.' Gene shook his head. 'You've always been quite the mystery and talk in circles. Just explain it to me.'

'You're winter, Gene,' Finny said, clearly unable to just say what he meant.

Gene didn't say anything. Phineas had always been summer to Gene. A bright spot in an otherwise colorless world that always shone.

'What does that even mean?' Gene asked.

Finny shook his head and moved to lie down, but Gene finally took the spot next to him stopping him.

'I'm tired of not knowing where I stand with you.'

' _You're_ tired of not knowing?' Finny's green eyes were wide and suddenly he was smiling, again, and then Gene remembered:

'You love winter.'


End file.
